Endoscopists typically perform diagnosis and therapy using a flexible endoscope such as a gastroscope, colonoscope, enteroscope, cystoscope, or other types of endoscopes. The endoscope provides the endoscopist with the ability to visualize the inside of a lumen, and is often designed with an integral working channel through which small accessory devices may be passed to perform therapy at various tissue sites within a body.
Guiding the flexible endoscope to the desired location within a body lumen requires a high level of skill. For example, navigating a tortuous bending colon or introducing a gastroscope into an esophagus can be a difficult and time-consuming part of a procedure. Therefore, much of the endoscopist's skills are related to using and handling the endoscope. Unlike certain procedures in laparoscopic surgery where an assistant may hold the camera, use of a gastroscope typically requires that the endoscopist always maintain the scope with at least one hand, leaving only one hand to introduce and operate accessories through the integral working channel of the scope.
Current handle designs typically require the use of an operator's thumb to actuate the end effector. Among the current designs are pistol grips, syringe grips, and scissor grips. These existing designs do not allow an endoscopist to both feed and operate (e.g. slide, open, close, actuate, etc.) the accessory being used with the endoscopist's single free hand.
Therefore, an assistant is typically used to operate (slide, open, close, actuate) an accessory such as a forcep or snare to take biopsies or remove polyps. For example in a gastrointestinal procedure, a right handed endoscopist typically holds the endoscope controls in his/her left hand and may advance an accessory device into the working channel of the endoscope with the right hand by grasping the shaft of the accessory. An assistant, who stands close to the endoscopist, is employed to open, close, or otherwise actuate the accessory when given the verbal direction by the endoscopist. The endoscopist feeds the accessory to the desired tissue area using a combination of articulating the endoscope with the left hand and feeding the accessory forward with the right hand, and verbally signals the assistant when to open or close the jaws to remove a portion of tissue.
Although this procedure using an assistant is used, there may be delays or miscommunication between endoscopist and assistant as to when or where to operate an accessory that results in procedure delays, misdiagnosis, or incomplete tissue removal. Another issue that occasionally arises when using an endoscopic accessory is that winding or otherwise positioning a long, flexible accessory instrument in a tortuous path can result in a reduction in ability to open or close the end effector at the distal end of the device. This loss in the ability to open or close the device results from the free floating pull cable (typically inside a long flexible device) being placed in tension as the shaft is wound, causing the end effector to partially close independently of actuation of the handle. Such limitations in the end effector motion may reduce the ability to perform a procedure, or reduce the force with which jaws close, affecting an operator's ability to sample tissue adequately.